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Sunday, November 23, 2008

GREAT LOS ANGELES WALK 2008: 18.3 Miles Later, We Did It!

And you thought we were all crazy! We did it, we hiked 18.3 miles from Union Station to the ocean on a beautiful Southern California Saturday.

For the third annual Great Los Angeles Walk, I chose the longest course yet. And yet we attracted the biggest crowd yet too.

Approximately 150 of us (some say more, some say less, several of us settled at the 150 estimate) gathered early in the day (some had been up super early, parking in Santa Monica and then taking the bus out east) for the event. We started at Union Station at 9 in the morning, and after a quick detour through Olvera Street, made it on to Cesar Chavez Blvd. From there, Cesar Chavez quickly turned into Sunset, and we hiked on, through Echo Park, past Dodger Stadium and on to Silver Lake.

At Sunset Junction, we peeled off onto the start of Santa Monica Blvd. We continued, onward past the Hollywood Freeway (and the former Hollywood Star Lanes site, RIP), and into Hollywood. We scored some free water from the Jackson Hewitt tax prep company, walked past Hollywood Forever cemetery, and into West Hollywood. Groups broke for lunch at several Weho spots... and many of us reconvened right at the West Hollywood/Beverly Hills border at 2 p.m.

From there, we walked the dirt sidewalk of Bev Hills (apparently they're resurfacing the bike path) and made it to the intersection of Santa Monica and Wilshire (home to the first walk in 2006!). Several of us walked into the old Trader Vic's restaurant at the Beverly Hilton, where an auction was taking place -- the famed Pickford estate. Furniture, clothes, photos... some reasonably priced (including a menu from a 1930 William Randolph Hearst dinner!). Onward, we passed by Century City and the Mormon temple... and then under the 405, and soon, as we hit Santa Monica, we began to feel the cool ocean breeze.

Santa Monica is always a snap, as the numbered streets help count down to the finish line.

Here's the crazy part: Some walkers sprinted so fast, they got to the finish by 3:15 (I worry that they didn't get a real sense of the route, having sped by so fast!) The bulk of us, including me, got to the end between 5 and 5:30 -- still faster than last year, when we walked 2.5 miles less, yet got there at the same time. (We were pacing around 20 minutes a mile -- check out my Great LA Walk Twitter feed to see.)

A handful of walkers did it right: They got to the end at around 6:30, having taken their time to explore sites along the way. Whatever the pace, most made it to the Britannia Pub after all to toast their feat. And rest their feet.

:: Follow Raul's pics here. He also recaps the day at his blog here. Raul's crew also gets points for being most creative -- re-enacting the number for each mile marker (above, they do "8"s for mile 8 -- Martel).

Mike,Thanks for another great event. I love visiting my city on foot. Last year I came on my own. This year five friends joined me. We all had a great time. We ate lunch at the Mediterranean Restaurant at Santa Monica and La Cienega. Think it use to be Karen Voight's old workout studio. The special thing about this eatery is the waiter, Kevin. He gave each person a signed drawing, along with a quote by a famous writer. I got Jack Kerouac and a portrait of a male figure. This is how he says thank you.